Author: solarenergy

Ameresco has completed a solar energy portfolio that includes seven schools in California’s Orange Unified School District (OUSD). Ameresco developed the rooftop solar PV systems and carport for the district, located on four elementary school campuses, one middle school campus and two high school campuses. As part of the power purchase agreement, Ameresco will own and maintain the solar energy systems, and OUSD will purchase the power generated by each system at a fixed rate for the next 25 years. This flat rate allows OUSD to capture energy savings, insulate them from any fluctuations in energy prices and guarantee savings.…

A research team in India developed a passive cooling method for solar panels using a thin, stagnant layer of seawater placed over the module surface. Tests showed that while a thick layer of water greatly reduced energy production, a thin layer of 5 mm reduced module temperatures and increased daily energy generation by as much as 8.86%. December 5, 2025 Lior Kahana A research team led by the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) has developed a new passive evaporative cooling system with solar panels that uses a layer of still seawater over a horizontally oriented module. “Full or…

The selected projects will be eligible for EU funding from the Connecting Europe Facility and will benefit from streamlined approval and regulatory processes. December 5, 2025 Sergio Matalucci The European Commission has given 235 cross-border energy projects the status of Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) and Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs), the second list of such projects since its launch in 2023. Among the 235 projects, 100 will be hydrogen and electrolyser projects. The selected projects will be eligible for EU funding from the Connecting Europe Facility and will benefit from streamlined approval and regulatory processes. “The Commission will support…

Grids are becoming smart around the world, although some countries are investing more than others in modernizing their electricity grids. According to online data portal statistically, cumulative investments in electricity grids This is expected to increase across all regions between 2024 and 2050, with the largest amount coming from the Asia-Pacific region. But as this happens, cyber attacks on the power grid are also increasing. A report from Tech Monitor indicates that the average number of weekly cyber attacks on utilities, measured in 2024, has quadrupled since 2020. Most of these do not cause widespread damage or disconnections to the…

The UK government’s flagship company, Great British Energy (GBE), has published its strategic plan for the next five years.GBE will build a portfolio of “at least” 15 GW of clean energy generation and storage capacity through ownership and investment and mobilize £15 billion of private finance through out-of-pocket spending.The strategic plan, which is a response to the the government’s Statement of Strategic Priorities, published in Septemberdescribes the key areas of focus for the company and how it will achieve its objectives.According to President Juergen Maier’s foreword, the document is “in some way about the mechanisms and levers we can use…

At the end of October the Illinois General Assembly passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), significant landmark legislation that will make Illinois’ electric grid more resilient, add new clean energy capacity, and meaningfully reduce ratepayers’ energy bills. The bill is nearly 1,000 pages long, with dozens of provisions focused on affordability. But one of the most transformative pieces is the development of a new large-scale solar + storage battery and community program. A community solar project in Kingston, Illinois completed by Nexamp. The timing couldn’t be more timely. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that 63 GW…

Solarwatt France has initiated a statutory early warning procedure at the Lyon Commercial Court to secure the future of its activities. December 5, 2025 François Puthod By pv magazine France Solarwatt, a German supplier of photovoltaic panels and solar batteries, has announced a restructuring plan to address current challenges in the French and European photovoltaic markets. As part of this plan, French subsidiary Solarwatt France filed an early warning procedure with the Lyon Commercial Court on December 3, the company said in a statement. In French company law, a statutory early warning procedure is designed to detect and address financial…

Brazil published Law 15,296 on November 25, introducing a series of legislative changes in the electricity sector, including guidelines for the regulation of storage systems, tax exemptions and the reduction of import tax rates on battery energy storage systems and their components to zero. December 5, 2025 Livia Neves By ESS news Brazil has introduced a series of regulations and incentives for battery energy storage systems (BESS), published under Law 15,269 on November 25. The law outlines electricity storage as an independent entity to be regulated by Aneel, Brazil’s electricity regulatory agency, alongside generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization activities. It…

Japan allocated 75.3 MW of PV capacity in its latest tender process. The lowest price at the auction was JPY 4.97 ($0.032)/kWh. December 5, 2025 Emiliano Bellini Image: Beau Swierstra, Unsplash Japan’s Green Investment Promotion Organization has final results of the latest auction for large-scale solar energy projects. The state agency said 75.3 MW of PV projects were selected in the tender. It was Japan’s 26th utility-scale solar auction and was expected to allocate 163 MW of generation capacity. The 27 selected projects range in size from 300 kW to 21.7 MW. The lowest bid was 4.97 JPY ($0.032)/kWh and…

For the first time, a complete aluminum-graphite dual-ion battery system has been built and tested, demonstrating that lithium-free, high-performance batteries can provide stability, fast response and recyclability for next-generation networking applications. December 5, 2025 Marija Maisch Aluminum-graphite dual-ion battery system consisting of pouch cells, battery module, battery management system and quantum sensor Image: Andreas Scheunert / Fraunhofer IISB By ESS news In a milestone for lithium-free battery technology, the joint R&D project INNOBATT, led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology (IISB), has completed a battery system demonstrator based on aluminum-graphite dual-ion batteries (AGDIB). The demonstrator confirms…